COURTESY
A rerndering and size elements of Option No. 2, which is strongly favored by the Woodland City Council for a new aquatic center.

Less fluff and more lap lanes was the basic message from Woodland City Council over a proposed $8.3 million swimming complex that is now being eyed for a location near Pioneer High School.

That was the message received by city planners and recreation officials Tuesday night after the council was asked for feedback on the project, which has now been under consideration for the past 20 months.

The design of a facility has basically been narrowed to three options after a number of public hearings, community sessions and other outreach efforts with most people preferring the “Option 2,” which provides six lap lanes and a recreation pool and accompanying structures and facilities such as maintenance room, pool decking, lockers and bathrooms, operations office and concession stand.

City engineer Brent Meyer told the council the pool is basically a “junior version” of a facility offered in Roseville. He also noted that it wasn’t the “actual water surface, or pool” that was expensive, it was the “ancillary” elements such as parking lot, buildings and other support facilities where the costs added up.

The other two options put forward weren’t favored by public, he explained, because they either didn’t have enough water area or no lap lanes whatsoever. Discussions have been underway since mid-2016 for a new pool with one public hearing held in September 2016 and a second in February 2017.

The council indicated it was excited about the proposal with Councilwoman Xochitl Rodriguez saying the city needed another pool on the east side of Woodland to make it equitable with the Brooks pool located near Woodland High School. She also liked the idea — originally proposed by Councilman Skip Davies — of building the aquatic center near Pioneer High School to take advantage of the schools’ existing parking space as a way of cutting costs.

Davies, however, was firm in his contention that a six-lane pool “is not adequate; it’s like a bathtub. It will have to be an eight- or nine lane pool.”

Davies also didn’t like an envisioned water slide feature in the design. He considered the slide an add-on which cost money but ultimately wouldn’t generate much enthusiasm. He said it would “take two people to man it and then once people went down it a few times they would stop.”

Councilman Tom Stallard concurred, saying the “Pioneer High School site is inspired” in that it will maintain equality between the two high schools.”

And Stallard also agreed that six lanes wasn’t enough. He supported putting in as many lanes as feasible.

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“I personally feel it should be a 10-lane pool as well as a cool down lane,” said Stallard. “You need a minimum of eight lanes for competition swimming. Personally, I think the rest of fluff ... There’s no bells and whistles at the Brooks pool folks, just a diving board, and they still come.

Stallard was also skeptical about an idea by consultants to charge $5 a day to use the facility as a way of helping pay for and maintain it. He cited a recent summer swimming program where the city charged $1 per person daily, noting that the money wasn’t enough to justify paying the people to collect it. As a result, the city offered free swimming and watched the number of swimmers increase from 100 to 500 a day.

“If people can be happy with Brooks pool now, then we don’t need all that stuff,” concluded Stallard of the add-ons in the Option 2 design. “I’m more interested in getting that pool built. It’s my number one recreation facility.”

Mayor Enrique Fernandez agreed, saying he also wanted a nine- or 10 lane pool for competition purposes. “Skip was the first to (also suggest) the Pioneer High site and I think that’s brilliant.”

The idea of more lap lanes also pleased three longtime proponents of a new swim center, Inke deWitt, Pauly van Muyden and Susan McKibbon. They have spent several years advocating for a new facility. All said they wanted to see more lap lanes and more swimming areas rather than “recreation pool.”

DeWitt said 12 lanes would be better than the six proposed and that while she was aware of the costs involved, thought the city needed to be “thinking ahead 20 years.”

“A larger facility for swimming rather than a smaller recreational pool” would provide for continued growth of competitive swimming.

McKibbon agreed, adding that she was told recently the number of children coming out who want to swim competitively are so many that some have to be turned away simply because the existing Brooks pool isn’t large enough. “I like the idea of more lanes,” she said.

The Aquatic Feasibility Study was developed by the Aquatic Design Group, headed up by Dennis Berkshire, which has designed such centers throughout the United States.

Planning for a second swimming center began after it became clear the old Gracie Hiddleson pool on Elm Street wasn’t worth the estimated $4 million cost to make it meet modern safety and building codes. It was demolished and filled in at the end of 2017.

Meyer also told the council the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission also endorsed the Option 2 proposal.

About the Author

Jim Smith is an award winning news and editorial writer and photographer who has been editor of The Daily Democrat since 1994. He has more than 37 years of professional newspaper experience as a reporter and editor for weekly and small daily newspapers. He has won numerous writing awards over his career as well as awards for photography and newspaper pagination as well as public service. Reach the author at jsmith@dailydemocrat.com
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